


Better

by Kannika



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22730215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kannika/pseuds/Kannika
Summary: Little known facts: Conner is a very good wingman, and an excellent pillow.Both of these come in handy when Wally forgets Valentine's Day.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Artemis Crock/Wally West, Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	Better

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! While I love fluff and will definitely be posting actual romance fics this weekend, I really wanted to write something about the fact they hinted in season two that Wally forgot EVERY Valentine's Day.
> 
> I feel like Artemis and Conner would have a hilarious friendship. I'll definitely be writing more of it.

“Conner,” Artemis says, and vaults over the back of the couch without preamble so that she’s sitting next to him and lying on his left arm. She wants to sulk. She can’t do that alone, and she doesn’t want him to see her face, and this couch doesn’t have any good pillows so Conner’s arm will have to do. “Back me up on something: guys are fucking _morons._ ”

She catches him off guard a second, then— “You do know I’m a guy, right?”

“You’re not. You don’t count. You’re a robot, programmed to be like the perfect boyfriend.” 

He pauses, catching on, and then sighs heavily and turns the TV off. “What did Wally do this time?”

“What didn’t he do, is more like it,” she grumbles. “I bet you didn’t forget to get M’gann something for Valentine’s Day.”

Conner shrugs. That doesn’t answer her question at all, so she nudges him. “Come on. What did you do for her?”

“We’re talking about you. Did Wally completely forget?” 

Her mood falls again, and she growls. “Completely. A hundred percent. He’s a grade-A moron.” 

Conner sighs. “And… you remembered, I take it.”

She had. That was maybe the most humiliating part of this. That she had been childishly, girlishly, embarrassingly excited for her first Valentine’s Day where she wasn’t sitting alone in the corner watching everyone else. This was the first one where she didn’t loudly proclaim that the single life was the best and she was happy not relying on anyone and smothering the cold burn in her stomach until it died. She was looking forward to it. 

Conner pats her arm, and she leans on him even more. “What did you get him?” He asks. Now he sounds appropriately sympathetic, but she just scowls. He’s never had a Valentine’s Day by himself. He doesn’t know what a big deal it is. He doesn’t know how much it hurts to be the only one excited for a day that’s supposed to be special. 

“I…” And her throat, embarrassingly, closes up so she has to swallow. “It’s not important.” 

Conner groans; his arm shifts. “Of course it is,” he grumbles. “Hold on.” 

And then, after a moment of silence, he says, “Wally?” and she realizes he got his phone out. 

“Hang up!” She hisses. “Hang up! It doesn’t matter—"

“When you vault over the couch calling Wally a ‘fucking moron’, it matters.” 

She distinctly hears Wally say “SHE SAID WHAT?” In answer Conner shoves the phone at her. She shakes her head adamantly, and he raises an eyebrow. 

“I will hold you down,” he says. Since it’s Conner, master of the deadpan, she has no idea if he’s joking. She’s willing to bet he’s not.

“Fine,” she snaps. “But you join the ‘guys suck’ club, because you’re a traitor.”

Conner shrugs and turns back to the TV. “If you didn’t want help, you shouldn’t have almost started crying on me.”

Through the phone, she hears Wally say, much quieter, “Oh no.”

He wasn’t meant to know that. She’s going to kill Conner.

“I’m hunting down Kryptonite tomorrow,” she seethes. “Only reason it’s not today is because I love M’gann and don’t want to ruin her Valentine’s dinner.”

“That’s nice of you,” Conner says, but there’s a distinct lack of concern in his voice. “And you’re welcome.”

She hits him in the arm, hard. He doesn’t pay her any attention. Stupid invulnerability.

He’s a dead man tomorrow, she’s sure of it.

\-----

When she sits down at the couch with him the next day, Artemis does so very quietly. Not trying to sneak up on Conner— they’ve all found that’s impossible, except for M’gann because she floats instead of walks. She just… she’s not nearly as murderous as she was yesterday. And Conner is very rarely smug, which is good, because he is _insufferable_ when he’s smug. And he’s going to be smug today. 

She plops down next to him, and after a moment of deciding how long she’s staying, takes her usual spot lying on his side. 

“Am I dead?” Conner asks, and he actually does sound a little concerned. Apparently she scares people when she’s quiet. She’ll have to remember that. 

She sighs. “No. You’re not dead.” She hits his arm again. “Wally owes you like, twenty times over.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that.” Conner glances down at her, amused now that he can read her mood a little better. “You’re welcome.”

Artemis scowls, but they’re interrupted when M’gann shows up. Not that she interrupts their conversation, she’s way too sweet for that, but Conner hears her come into the room and straightens and Artemis can tell talking to him is going to be a waste of breath. He’ll be useless until he says hello to M’gann and finds out what she’s here for, Artemis has found out. They’re so… domestic, sometimes. A walking sitcom. It’s a lot endearing and a tiny bit disturbing.

Sure enough, M’gann flies to the front of the couch, smiling brightly, and kisses Conner on the forehead. “Hi. I got groceries on the way home for lemon meringue cookies!” Then she leans back and frowns at Artemis for a second. “You okay? I thought Wally made up for forgetting!”

“Do you tell her _everything?_ ” Artemis hisses at Conner. 

“Pretty much,” he answers. _Duh,_ his tone says. “And she’s fine. She’s sulking because I helped her so she can’t murder me.”

“ _Can’t_ is not the issue, mister, don’t push your luck.” But she ducks her head in his elbow to hide her smile, and M’gann claps her hands together. 

“Are you excited?” M’gann says, all chipper energy. “I mean, I know it’s a few days late, but Wally found some good stuff for you to do this weekend!”

“Yeah, he did,” Artemis grumbles, but she’s pretty sure by now she’s beaming. 

Her weekend looks awesome. Snowboarding, paintball (at a place that accepts bow and arrows as weapons, Wally assured her, she’s going to _cream him_ ), pizza, a photography scavenger hunt around Gotham City’s ritzy neighborhoods (she’s pretty sure Robin had something to do with that), and volunteering at the animal shelter in Central City. After Conner called him and let him know he screwed up and she cared, he pulled out all the stops. And he’s pretty much guaranteed to remember from now on, too.

And it’s because Conner is a cut-to-the-point, pretty decent wingman. Who knew. Although she’s pretty sure Wally’s bank account is going to suffer for months, she can’t stop grinning. 

“You’re welcome,” Conner says again, and yep, there’s the smugness.

“Be nice, Conner,” M’gann says lightly. “And not that I don’t mind you cuddling with my boyfriend, Artemis, but you need to make room for me.”

Fair enough. Conner mutters “we’re not _cuddling_ ” (boys), but shifts Artemis over like she weighs nothing so that M’gann can curl up in his lap. M’gann hasn’t stopped grinning in days and she’s pretty much been glued to Conner’s side since three days before Valentine’s, so whatever he did for her must have been good. 

If he screws up, though, she’ll get his back next time. 

“Thanks,” she says, so that only he can hear her.

Conner keeps staring forward at the TV, but his smile widens just a bit.


End file.
